Man's Journey on Earth (Part 1: Our life cycle)

"A review of a person’s typical life cycle will be helpful to provide us with a birdseye view of our activities which I believe is common to all. Such a view will help us see the forest instead of the woods, opening our eyes to realise the futility of our labours if life just ends without any hope of eternal life. It is our prayers that the reader after reading this article will be able to appreciate the provision of eternal life by our God and Saviour Jesus Christ."

Man's Journey on Earth 

Part 1: Our life cycle

Part 1 Our life cycle

Part 2 A fork in the road

Part 3 Christian’s standards

Part 4 A preview of the Christian hope

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

Introduction

This article is a Gospel message and I hope you can also share it with your family and friends. It is divided into four parts although each can be read independently.

The meaning of the word “Gospel” is good news. It is good news because those who accept it will have the gift of eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amidst all the bad news happening around the world today, i.e. the pandemic, wars, riots and civil unrest in many parts of the world, we need the Gospel. Unfortunately, the Gospel will not be considered good news to those who do not believe that the gospel is relevant to them. 

The United Nations world population statistics mentions that the average lifespan of a person is about 71 years. The world factbook (2016) puts it at 69 years. If we calculate the simple average age of man based on these two results, the answer is 70 years, which is also the average age of man mentioned in the Bible (Psalm 90:10). 

A review of a person’s typical life cycle will be helpful to provide us with a birdseye view of our activities which I believe is common to all. Such a view will help us see the forest instead of the woods, opening our eyes to realise the futility of our labours if life just ends without any hope of eternal life. It is our prayers that the reader after reading this article will be able to appreciate the provision of eternal life by our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Beginning of life

Whenever a child is born, parents and members of the family always have great expectations. They rack their brains to name the child even before the child is born. One can also perceive the parents’ religious inclinations and aspirations when you consider the meaning of the names given to their children. Christians love giving names of the heroes or heroines of the Bible and for those that have not embraced the Christian faith, they name their child in accordance to the aspirations in their respective cultures and beliefs.

Most parents make great efforts to pass on living skills to their children. In a lighter vein, I was informed by a friend that his father took him to a nightclub so that he knows how to handle the situation when his work warrants it!  The majority of parents make laudable efforts like investing their precious savings for their children’s education and enrolling them to the best education institutions within their budgets.

 

On the subject of the great expectations mentioned above, many of us are familiar with the quote that “time is a great healer”. When we encounter a sad incident, such as the death of a parent, the sad feelings will gradually disappear over time. I wish to add that time is also a great reality pacifier in everything. When the life cycle unfolds over time, all parents with their great expectations will be more realistic and accept the fact that their children are not as great as they had hoped. 

Statistics is an interesting subject as the pattern of the bell curve projects the reality of life. The bell curve charts categories of intelligence, earnings, academic performance, etc. There is a small group on the far left who is not doing too well, while the small group on the extreme right excels in their respective categories. The majority of us are the ordinary Joe or Jane in the middle of the curve. Nevertheless, I wish to elaborate in the twilight years section below that everyone under the bell curve, whether right or left will come to the same destination.

The formative years

The formative years of a child’s life are between the time they are weaned to the time they become independent. In the past, you are considered independent when you are about 12 to 15 years old. My late father told me that he was a clerk when he was 12 years old. I have no other basis to corroborate this fact other than his statement. Now, it seems to be much longer, especially the privileged who have access to higher education. Most people will only be considered to be an adult when they have passed 18 years of age, but with higher education requirements, the age of independence may extend to 25 years. 

Many of us spend our formative years in educational institutions acquiring skills for the purpose of getting a job in the next phase of our lives. It is during these formative years that parents will eventually come to the realization that they have to abandon their great expectations and become more realistic in their children’s abilities.

Adult life

All of us spend our adult life in a predictable pattern. When a person starts work, there are similar great expectations and great ambitions in worldly pursuits. Benchmarks are unconsciously made in every stage of our lives to mark a person’s progress in his or her ambitions. For example, when you start your career, you’re expected to be an apprentice for 3 to 5 years. Then, you should get married around the age of 25 to 30. In the next 10 years or more, you would have been a manager, owned a house and have 2 kids.

This is the rat race and such benchmarks make many people unhappy and sometimes the inability to achieve their desired goals may lead to depression and even suicide. The more practical expectation, whether you are a clerk, doctor or entrepreneur, is to just do your best. If you are a Christian just leave everything to the good Lord. Achievement of these “success timelines” is just an illusion.  When we expand our horizons beyond our place of work, districts and countries, we can see that our success is not much of a success and career stagnation is not uncommon or disastrous after all. My friend used to say, “Why are you upset over your colleague getting an extra half-month bonus while the chap in London is getting a 13 months bonus?” On missing some benchmark, we know that people in many parts of the world are living in hunger.

Everyone life’s cycle is fairly similar. You work, establish a family and then you take care of your offspring as mentioned above. The book of Ecclesiastes 1:4 summed it up aptly, “What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose”.

The twilight years

The life cycle is a fairly short cycle. Seventy years is a short span in the immensity of time and amidst the activities of life, the end arrives without our knowing. Since I am 65 years old, I can speak with a bit of experience on the brevity of 70 years. Our brief twilight years commence when we retire from our work or business.  Some people coloured it as the ‘golden years’ but in reality, it is a time of sickness, immobility and for some, economic dependence on their children. 

It is a fact that the rate of divorce is increasing today and retirees are not spared from this phenomenon. A study conducted in 2017 by the Pew Research Center in Washington D.C. found that divorce among US adults 50 or older roughly doubled between 1990 and 2015; among those 65 years or older, the divorce rate tripled. It is also a fact that when we are old and have retired, many of our friends would gradually shun us. Even for the few rich and powerful folks, their “golden years” are not moments of relaxation because of health problems and family members of the rich like to squabble over the inheritance. These are all not very pleasant thoughts and much more― as death knocks at the door. 

In every phase of a person life cycle, opportunities are given to everyone to reflect on their life purpose. However, the twilight phase of a person’s life cycle gives the person a “force move”, as they term it in chess, to reflect on the purpose of life. Typical questions arise such as: is there life after death or does one just annihilate? If there is life after death, what kind of body will I have? Does the relationship I have with my family continue? Is there any punishment resulting from my mistakes, crimes or failings in my conducts on earth?  

The Bible in Hebrews 9:27 declares that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”. It answers the questions on whether there is life after death and whether there will be judgments of our deeds done during our life on earth. In another passage of the Bible, it is declared that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). These statements in the Bible would trouble those who are seriously questioning the purpose of their life. How can one escape such judgments? This is the reason why the Gospel is so important to everyone in the world. The good news is the availability of grace to forgive sin and eternal life can be secured through Jesus Christ our Lord. A person whose sins are forgiven will not live their twilight years in misery, but in joy that he or she will soon meet the Saviour.

Jer 29:13     “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart”.

With God's blessings,

CL